Chronological Epoch
by PhantomOfTheBookStore
Summary: A story starting back before even the Silver Millennium when Sailor Pluto herself was just a young woman starting out in her duties. Watching over time can be a hard thing to do by one's self and can be down right disastrous with others in tow. A story spanning different times and worlds starts here...
1. Who Wants to Live Forever?

**Chapter 1**

** Who Wants to Live Forever?**

Setsuna, the Plutonian Princess and the current Sailor Pluto had been standing at her post at the Time Gates for a while. But such a post as guarding the Gates of Time made it hard to determine just how long she had been standing there. For it seemed the energies that surrounded her were different in that one moment she felt she'd been there but hours, the next, it felt like years. It was a post of loneliness, as she could not leave it, nor could others visit. The garnet rod in her hands glowed brightly for a moment and then with a flash, she'd find herself somewhere else.

"Idiot! Stop touching that!" came a voice from close by.

If Sailor Pluto looked around she'd find herself among gears and pendulums and other loudly ticking time pieces. The place almost seemed exactly like where she had just moments been standing with the same kind of energy. The voice had belonged to a purple wearing blue skinned apparition. He was yelling at a green skinned apparition wearing white robs and having a single eyeball for a head. The eyeball creature was handing back a large purple staff with a small clock on top of it.

"You weren't hear caring out your duties. I saw something on the screen and wanted to stop anything serious from going on." the creature spoke.

The purple clad apparition shook his head.

"That's why you are an observant. You do not interfere and you NEVER touch anything in my clock tower. Who knows what you may have done. Go back to the observatory if you have no news for me." he spoke.

"I was...I was told to let you know of the new Time Door Guardian." the observer said.

"Is that all? You think I didn't already know? Go back to where you come from. I have business to take care of and probably a mess to clean up because of your stupidity." the apparition said with a waved of a dark gloved hand.

The observant quickly made his way out as Sailor Pluto watched in awe and confusion. While the two apparitions spoke, she had remained quiet, curious as to the conversation especially when it turned to be about her, at least she assumed. But considering how the place had the same sort of energy as where she had been, she couldn't be completely sure. When the observant left, she looked to the cloaked one.

"Um...hello?" For some reason she was nervous which was unlike her.

"I usually don't lose my temper so and I'm sorry if I have made you feel uneasy. I'm not use to others touching my belongings." the purple clad apparition spoke before turning around to look at her. "It's nice to make you acquaintance, Princess."

His skin was a light blue like his wisp tail. His eyes were a deep glowing red. A clock case was embedded into his chest. Inside gears turned and a pendulum swing while a clock kept time. He wore several watches on each arm over dark blue gloves.

"I'm Clockwork. Welcome to my tower." he said with a slight bow.

His acknowledgement of his potentially being the cause of Sailor Pluto unease and his acceptance of her being there calmed her and she gave a soft smile.

"Nice to make your acquaintance as well. Please, call me Setsuna. Since I assume we both have duties in the same field."

"Indeed. I'm sorry that bumbling fool took you from where you were suppose to be." Clockwork said as he started towards some mirrors behind Setsuna.

In each one, a different time line would be going through motion. He pointed his staff at one and the Time Doors appeared.

"Your post is safe though. No one is there and no one can get through as long as I am watching. How long has it been since you started? A week? Couple of days?" she knew that he knew the answer, but for the sake of conversation, he was inquiring.

She sighed.

"I believe it's been no more than a week. But the energy around it...makes me feel different sometimes. Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer...like the energy here I suppose."

"Yes. It can cause one to be confused if not use to it. I have no doubt that very soon, you will have a complete hold on your powers. Can I get you anything? Tea perhaps?" Clockwork asked hospitably.

"Tea would be nice."

Setsuna took a deep breath before speaking again. "You seem to know much if not all about me. Yet I never heard an anything about you until I showed up here. Why is that?"

"You're just starting out. You have plenty of time to learn of me, just as I had plenty of time to learn of you." He responded as he made the tea, then set a small cup of it in front of her.

"Being a spirit is also something they don't like to just blurt out either. My job is slightly different from yours. I watch time and protect it. Make sure it's going the way it's suppose to and fix it if not. You however are able to watch time and see how it goes, but you also guard the gates of time and space and are not to ever leave. I can stop time. In fact it's a main power of mine. You however must never stop time. Ever. It will use all your power and you will die." he warned.

"Thank you." Setsuna spoke in response to the tea before taking a sip as she listened. "Well, what good is it for me to have the power to stop time if it kills me? I might as well not even have the power."

"True. But there may come a day when sacrifice is needed. Sometimes we meet people who are more precious to us than our own life. It may not even be a lover. Could just be a very good friend." Clockwork smiled knowingly.

She sighed and took another long sip of her tea.

"It would be more likely to happen if I were not restricted to remaining at the gates or if I could actually have visitors."

"This job can be very lonely." he said sympathetically. "I know that better than anyone. You are allowed to come here when you like. I can make the gates appear on my screen over there so that it is being watched. If you ever need advice, or help, feel free to visit."

Setsuna nodded with a soft smile. "I'd like that. It's nice to know I'm not alone in such a job. If it's not too personal a question, might I ask how long you've been at it?"

"Since the beginning of time." Clockwork said.

His form shifted from a young man to an old one with a long beard. His forms seemed to switch a lot. It ranged from child, young man, and then old man. Each for representing past, present, and future respectively. His true form being the present which was the young man.

She frowned sympathetically. "That's...quite a long time to be alone."

"It is, but one gets use to it." he said as his form settled on his young man form and stuck for a while.

"Is there anything else you would like to know?"

Setsuna finished her tea, her gaze pointed down. "I know you said I'm welcome to visit here...but I was wondering if there was a chance of you visiting me at the time gates sometimes...I'll understand if you can't."

"I'd be honored." Clockwork said smiling. "Thank you for inviting me."

It was the first time he had been invited to visit another Time Keeper.

She smiled softly. "It's a pleasure. As well as only fair, even if I don't have a place such as this."

"Your right. You have a nice peaceful area to be in." Clockwork said smiling. "Which you should probably get back to. All you have to for is walk through the screen that shows the Time Gates."

He gestured to the screen. "Once again, it has been very nice to make your acquaintance, Setsuna."

Setsuna nodded with a sigh as she finished her tea. "You're right. I should get back."

She grabbed her staff and started for the screen.

"Until we meet again, Clockwork." She smiled before walking through the screen back to the Time Gates.

"Until then." he said watching her go.

Meanwhile as the Time Keepers got acquainted, the young observant who had messed with Clockwork's staff was floating away slowly. If he had had a mouth, he would have smirked. The plans were going just as he wanted them to. As the Time Master himself had said so many times, everything was as it was suppose to be. Now he would go talk with his associate and let them know what was going on. He continued on.

The two would visit each other many many times over the years sharing knowledge and information. Setsuna had met Queen Serenity and she had watched the other planetary princesses born and grow, the majority taking up posts as sailor senshi, though unlike her, they were freely moving. She had even bonded with the moon princess enough for the princess to call her a nickname. She would watch the child grow up, fall in love, and then the terrible tragic day. The fall of the Moon Kingdom hit the time keeper had taken a lot of restraint not to use her ability to stop time to protect the princess from harm that day, no matter how much her heart screamed to. She had told herself that while doing so could've saved the moon princess, it would've still left her unprotected in the long run due to the other senshi being killed in battle before that. With a heavy heart, she watched Queen Serenity give up her remaining energy to send the moon princess and her court to be reborn in the future. The time keeper didn't hold back as she shed tears for the fallen queen and princess of the moon.

"I'm sorry." Clockwork's voice come from behind her.

He placed a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. "I know it was hard to watch, but there is still hope. The queen sent them forward in time to a much brighter future. Your princess will have a great existence and grow very strong."

Setsuna wiped her eyes with a sniffle and a nod. "It was hard. So hard to watch knowing there was nothing I could do to help."

"I know. Can I get you anything? Anything at all?" he asked.

She sighed and turned to face him.

"I...don't really know what to ask for in something like this. I'm no stranger to seeing death, even in such a horrible fashion. But it hurts more when it's someone I'm close to. How do you deal with such?"

"I've never had the pleasure of getting as close as you have to other people. I have heard when one losses a loved one that they take time off of work to mourn. Would...would you like time to mourn?" Clockwork asked the last part in almost a whisper, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

They weren't the only Time Keepers and there were always the obnoxious Observants to worry about.

"Kinda...weird wouldn't it be? A time keeper taking time off." She half-laughed. "No. Maybe it's a lesson. Not to allow myself to get that close again. Then it won't hurt as much when they die."

"Very well." he said nodding. "Only if you are sure though. I have ways of taking time to catch my own breath so to speak...not that I have breath to catch, but you know." he said shrugging. "If you need anything, just please let me know."

He had a soft spot for the young Time Guardian and didn't want her to be depressed. Emotions could lead to making mistakes and their job wasn't something that they could afford to make mistakes with.

"I...am sure...If I were to take time off, I would never return. And because of that, I can't take time off. This job came as part of my duties as a sailor senshi. It's something I have to accept."

Setsuna smiled softly. "But...if ever I feel as if this is too much...rest assured I will show up at the tower right away. You have my word."

He smiled and nodded before disappearing in a swirl of clock hands. The two remained good friends. Visiting one another through the centuries. It wasn't until the goings ons with the Black Moon family that anything really worrisome began. Small Lady Serenity had stolen a key from Setsuna and gone to the past to try and help her mother. The girl only ended up getting turned into Black Lady, stealing the Ginzuishou from the past and getting it and the one from her time taken by Prince Dimando and almost having the world destroyed. Setsuna used that time to stop time. Although the problem was resolved by Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, and Small Lady, Setsuna had died in the process. Clockwork watched all these events from his clock tower with wide eyes. He briefly interfered. He went back in time and asked Queen Serenity to grant the same rebirth for Sailor Pluto she had allowed the other senshi and her daughter. She had agreed and Clockwork went back to his tower of the present to find some very angry observers waiting. He was in some serious trouble. They were pretty lenient on him by their standards. They only confined him to the tower for two decades and some of his more powerful abilities were blocked. It was fine by him. He'd done what he had set out to do and things were back on track for now...


	2. Time After Time

**Chronological Epoch**

**Chapter 2**

**Time After Time**

By the time Setsuna was an adult living in Tokyo with two other woman, Clockwork's punishment had been lifted. He really wanted to see how Setsuna was doing though, so like anyone who found themselves free to do as he pleased once more, he did just that. A good human disguise wasn't hard to fabricate. Pale human skin, a purple hoodie, platnum blond hair, reddish brown eyes, and jeans and boots did just the trick. The ticking of his case couldn't seem to be silenced, so he figured if anyone asked he'd tell them it was one of the watches he wore being loud. He was still wearing all the watches he'd had on before. He stood outside the house that the three woman lived in and knocked on the door.

It wasn't Setsuna who answered, but one of the other women she lived with. A masculine type of woman, with short sandy brown hair, Haruka, or Sailor Uranus. She eyed him cautiously when she opened the door. "May I help you?"

"Yes. I'm looking for Setsuna. I'm...an old friend of hers." he said as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other feeling for the first time ever, a bit nervous.

What if he wasn't doing the right thing? What if he was only going to mess up her chance at a new happy life? He could see all of time, even from here, but he could never see his own future or that of another Time Keeper. He was playing this completely by ear. Not something he was use to.

Haruka narrowed her eyes briefly as if analyzing him. After a time, she nodded.

"Come in. You're a friend of hers but give us a reason not to trust you and out you'll go, understood?" Even though Setsuna was older than Haruka, Haruka was clearly protective of the older woman. "Her room is down the hall, first door on the left."

"Right. Of course, Ha...uh...thanks." he said as he moved past her and went to the room she had indicated. He took a breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Her voice floated through the door.

He slowly opened the door and inside Setsuna was hanging a painting up on the wall. The scene a familiar one...as it was the inside of his tower. Clockwork gasped a little when he saw the panting.

Forgetting himself he asked, "Did you paint that?"

"Oh this? No. I've taken up drawing, but I'm not quite ready for painting. I described it to Michiru though. She did it for me."

She made sure the painting was straight on the wall before stepping back from it with a soft smile.

"It's incredible. You have a really great memory. Well...of course you do. You'd have to considering, but with your new life and all..." he trailed off as he looked at the picture and could almost hear the familiar ticking of home.

He then stopped. She had just spoken to him like she knew him. Like no big deal. Did she remember him even with his disguise. He figured he'd venture on and see.

"How've you been?" he asked nonchalantly.

"I've been alright. I still have a link to the gates. Just don't have to stay there anymore." Setsuna looked at him with a soft smile. "I've missed you."

Clockwork looked at her and smiled softly back. "I missed you too. So what do you do with yourself now?"

"Senshi business." She chuckled. "Searching with Michiru and Haruka for the pure hearts that lead to the talismans that bring the holy chalice...while pretending I don't know where they are all along."

She sat down on her bed. "Please have a seat."

"Ah. The talismans." he said nodding in understanding.

He walked over and sat on the bed with her.

"Anyway I can help? I better enjoy my vacation after all while I still can. Once I get back, the Observents will probably raise an unholy hell." The grin that come after that statement was a bit bitter.

"Nothing that can really be done until we face the appropriate enemy." Setsuna said with a sigh.

After a few moments of silence, she spoke again.

"You were right, of course, about the moon princess. She has become strong, is getting stronger."

Clockwork smiled a little and nodded. There was another long silence that Setsuna broke by speaking again.

"You're the reason I'm here instead of at the gates, aren't you?"

"Yes." he admitted.

He then looked at her again for a little bit without speaking.

"You look happier. You always appeared a little sad. Lonely." Clockwork finally said.

"I guess it's because I no longer feel useless as a senshi. I can actually be involved in what happens, in protecting the moon princess. When the moon kingdom fell, the other kingdoms weren't far behind. Including my own."

"I remember. It was a tragedy. I am truly sorry. You know that you were never useless though. Not once."

She sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Didn't stop me from feeling that way sometimes." She smiled softly.

The two sat quietly for a little bit once more. Like always, Setsuna was the first to break the silence.

"I had Michiru do that painting for me...because it helps me feel close to you. I never expected to see you still."

"Close to me? You should know I'm always watching. I can't see your future, but the present is clear." Clockwork said looking back at the painting.

His face had grown a little red. No one had said such a thing as that to him before.

"I know you're watching. But knowing you're watching isn't the same as actually being able to see you from time to time."

Setsuna's own cheeks had grown a red tint.

"When I stopped time...it didn't occur to me that I might get reborn...so I wasn't expecting just how much it hurt to not be able to see you."

"I wanted you to be able to experience life as your friends had. I thought after such a sacrifice it was only fair." he said as he suddenly grew fascinated with the floor.

"Would you like to maybe go have some coffee?" Clockwork asked suddenly.

He was starting to feel awkward sitting on her bed.

"Then you may could introduce me to your friends. I know a bit about them, but you being n their time line now I can't see how their futures go either." he explained.

Setsuna nodded and straightened herself.

"There's a little coffee shop nearby. You've met Haruka, even without a proper introduction. Michiru's out of town at a performance. But I could at least introduce you to the moon princess and the inner senshi. They have their senshi meeting today. However, with your disguise, there's likely to be some looks if I introduce you as Clockwork." She chuckled.

"Indeed. Chrono maybe?" he asked thinking for a moment for a name.

Clockwork wasn't really worried about the senshi or the princess knowing his name, but he guessed he would need something to be called in public.

She nodded in approval. "Perfect. It's a precaution mainly."

Setsuna grabbed her keys and her staff disappeared from its spot in the corner.

"Shall we go?"

"Yes." he said as he stood and followed her out.

She led him out the house, locking the door behind them before leading him towards the coffee shop. He marveled at the things he saw. It was interesting seeing things close up. Of course Clockwork knew what everything was and how it worked, but still, it was nice to see it like this. He was almost as bad as a tourist as he walked backwards a little when he passed something interesting, then would turn around and jog to catch up with his guide. Setsuna couldn't help but chuckle softly as she watched him take in everything. He smiled as he caught up to her and continued on with her to the coffee shop.

"We're not even at the coffee shop yet and you already look like you're having a good time."

"It's amazing to see Tokyo from this side of the window." Clockwork said smiling a little more.

"Did you feel the same when you first found yourself able to move around this world freely?"

"I did to be honest. It is amazing to see and experience."

Clockwork nodded in understanding.

"Is that the coffee shop there?" he asked pointing to the shop.

Sestsuna nodded with a smile. "That's it. It's got quite the cozy little atmosphere."

"I see." Clockwork said as he walked over to the shop and opened the door for Setsuna.

"Ladies first, of course."

"Thank you." She smiled as she stepped into the shop.

The lightning was dim, the tables were set for either one or two people and in a corner there were a couple of small couches as well as a couple of armchairs. Clockwork headed for one of the tables set away from most of the others and went to pull a chair out for Setsuna. She thanked him again before sliding into the chair, her cheeks a little pink. He sat down across from her and sat waiting for a waiter or waitress.

"Will we be meeting your Senshi here or else where?"

"Elsewhere. There's a temple they meet at. Rei...works and lives at it as a priestess."

When the server came around, Setsuna ordered a latte for herself, preferring to let him order something for himself.

"Black coffee." Clockwork ordered.

Setsuna watched as the server took their orders and left before she looked back to Clockwork.

"Black coffee? Don't know how you can stand it."

"I've gotten a taste for it. There are some times even I get tired, so the coffee helps me stay awake." he explained.

She chuckled. "I meant I don't know how you can stand coffee straight black without any cream or sugar."

Clockwork's face reddened a bit. "Oh. Yes. Of course. I just never really tried it."

"Fair enough. I won't push you to try something else. You've gotten so used to drinking coffee one way."

"Hmm. I am here to try new things though. I will see what it tastes like with the cream and sugar." he said agreeably.

Setsuna nodded as the server returned with their drinks as well as a little container of sugar packets and a small pitcher of cream.

Clockwork carefully put some cream and sugar in his coffee, then stirred it all together before trying it. He sat there for a few moments then nodded.

"That is good."

Setsuna smiled as she sipped her latte.

"Told you."

"You did." he said smiling.

Clockwork was enjoying the coffee when he heard a scream and turned to look. A crystal was floating in front of a woman as a monster stood by close. It snatched the crystal just as the customers started screaming and running to get away. The monster tried to stop other customers and steal more crystals. Setsuna swore at seeing the monster. She knew it was only a matter of time before Uranus and Neptune made it, let alone the other senshi. But time was of the essence. Since it seemed that no one was paying attention, she stood and transformed right there, her staff appearing in her hand.

"Dead Scream!"

The garnet orb at the top of her staff glowed as she twirled with it and released the attack at the monster. As Setsuna, now Sailor Pluto dispatched of the monster, Clockwork sat drinking the rest of his coffee as if nothing were happening. The monster screamed before disappearing, or rather falling to the floor and turning into a tea cup.

"That was very anticlimactic." he commented.

Sailor Pluto made sure the crystal returned to its owner.

"They tend to possess everyday objects."

Suddenly the garnet orb on the top of Sailor Pluto's staff would flash and Clockwork nearly dropped his cup as he felt a strange pulse go through his body causing his clock to skip a few ticks and then tick a bit erratically before calming back down. He was clinching his hoodie at his chest when the feeling finally subsided and everything went back to normal.

"What...was that?" he asked.

Setsuna was just as confused, especially when she heard Clockwork. She went back over to him with a look of concern.

"No idea. Any chance the observants are involved?"

"Probably. Let them do whatever it is they want to do though. I plan on having my free time." he said stubbornly.

"Not fond of them messing with my staff though."

She sighed and de-transformed before sitting back down.

"That...brings up an interesting point. I don't thin they would." he said as he sat thinking things over and he finishing his coffee.

"Sure about that? One of them did mess with it enough to bring me to your tower. Not that I'm upset with them for that time."

"This is something I'll have to think about for a while. You are right. One did mess with both of our staves. We will go meet your senshi and then return to your place if that is ok with you."

Setsuna nodded and looked at her watch.

"Let's go then."

She stood up and left a bit of money on the table for the drinks, as she didn't feel right not paying just because the staff had run out. Clockwork stood and followed her out. She led the way towards the temple that she knew the inner senshi were meeting at. After a while, she smiled to herself and softly counted.

"3...2...1..."

Within seconds of Setsuna saying "1", what seemed to be a mini whirlwind whizzed past them. Setsuna chuckled as she watched the moon princess hurry along in front of them.

"Late?" he asked with a small chuckle of his own.

"Quite often. Funny thing is, if she wasn't always late to school, she'd be able to make the meetings on time too."

"Well then, let's make it less awkward and join her, shall we?" Clockwork asked as he jogged after the moon princess.

She smiled. "Good idea."

She jogged alongside him the rest of the way to the temple. Once to the top the two looked around. Setsuna was happy to see that Rei's grandfather wasn't out.

"Follow me." She headed on into the temple, letting her staff appear again as she went.

He nodded and followed, he was unsure why she had her staff appear, but didn't ask. Setsuna stopped just before a room and motioned for him to wait there before she stepped to the doorway, making sure her staff would be in view of the five younger senshi, before making her presence known, addressing the princess by her old title and smiling kindly when the princess used the old nickname for her in return. Clockwork stayed back, but could hear most of what was going on. He stood waiting for Pluto to indicate when it was a good idea to enter.

"Okay girls, I have someone I want you all to meet. He's a good friend of mine so be nice."

Setsuna motioned to Clockwork to enter before moving more through the door, enough to let him in and be seen, but still as a sort of barrier between him and the younger girls. Clockwork stepped in and gave a polite bow to the girls.

"Hello. It's nice to meet you all."

Ami was the first to bow in return.

"Hello."

Usagi bowed next with a soft smile.

Setsuna smiled at Usagi and Ami's reactions but frowned when Minako, Rei and Makoto all took slightly protective positions around Usagi.

"Relax girls. I meant it when I said he's a very good friend. His name is Chrono and he's a fellow Timekeeper. I've known him since I first took up post at the Time Gate. Surely you don't think I'd bring someone untrustworthy around you all?"

She sighed in relief when the three protective senshi all relaxed and bowed.

"I'm happy to finally meet you all face to face. Setsuna spoke highly of you all." he said still smiling.

Rei looked at him.

"And yet this is the first we've heard of you."

Clockwork was about to respond to Rei when Setsuna cut in with a sigh.

"I couldn't inform you of him until he was ready. No asking him of the future any of , you all wouldn't have seen the 30th Century if not for Small Lady."

She smiled softly as all five girls nodded in understanding.

"She has kept my secret for thousands of years as I've kept hers from certain people who would try to find the Time Gates and go through them." Clockwork explained.

Usagi nodded with a smile.

"Thank you for anything you have and will do for her."

She looked to the other four inner senshi.

"If Plu says he's trustworthy then believe her. She has no reason to steer us wrong."

Setsuna nodded. "Thank you Serenity-hime."

Clockwork smiled and bowed once more.

"Thank you all." he said before a noise could be heard fro the trees just outside the temple.

"Again?" he murmured.

"Not surprising."

Setsuna watched as the five younger senshi all transformed and within seconds were heading out the room and out the temple. Clockwork took off after the girls summoning his Time staff, but remaining in his human guise. He didn't want the girls to confuse him for a monster. Setsuna of course follows after, stepping outside to see Sailors Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter taking protective formation around Sailor Moon as they wait for the source to show itself. Clockwork stopped and looked around wearily for the commotion when a giant clock hand slammed down in front of the senshi. It gleamed sharply as a creature landed on the opposite end of it, balancing gracefully. The creature wore clothes with small clocks printed all over it. The creatures long black hair hung loosely around it's face which was pale and almost translucent. It grinned sadistically before holding a hand out and sending hundreds f small sharp clock hands down at the group including Setsuna and Clockwork. Clockwork moved to grab Setsuna and turned so that his back was to the creature to take the brunt of any assault. A small green barrier appeared just behind him to help. For a few minutes it worked, but a particularly large one finally shattered the barrier and pierced through Clockwork's shoulder and down through Setsuna's arm. He only let out a slight gasp of surprise. He cursed his inability to see his own future or Setsuna's. If he could have, he'd have known what to do ahead of time. The other girls did their best ducking and rolling, but all ending up with at least a scrape or a scratch from too close a call. Setsuna grunted as her arm was pierced, closing her eyes tight so as not to show the pain. He reached around to grab the piece of the clock hand that went through them both and made it intangible. He tossed it aside and looked towards Ami.

"Can you help, Setsuna? I'll see about taking care of that creature." he called out.

He could see that Setsuna had a bit of ecto in her wound. It wouldn't be enough to make her half ghost or anything weird, but it could cause her to have a few side effects until the substance worked itself out of her system. His own shoulder hurt from the damage done to it and the sleeve of his hoodie was stained green, but besides that, he figured he could get rid of the monster.

Ami nodded.

"On it."

She scrambled to her feet and moved over to Setsuna, quickly wrapping the older senshi's wound. Setsuna held her arm after it was wrapped and nodded in thanks to Ami before glancing over at Clockwork and the creature. He held his staff as a blade appeared from it causing it to look like a scythe. He then flew at the creature and the two began to fight. The creature using a clock had as a sword as the two clashed. It seemed at close quarters, and unable to hurl the clock hands, the creature wan't too strong and it was soon cut in half by the male time keeper. It fell to dust on the floor before turning into a wall clock. Clockwork sighed and landed before running over to Ami and Setsuna.

"Is she alright?" he asked Ami.

He figured if he asked Setsuna she'd tell him yes no matter if she was hurt or not.

She nodded.

"As far as I can tell. Though I've never seen that green substance before. But taking into consideration that you didn't seem too concerned about that, I can safely assume that you recognize it and it's not something to worry about, is that correct?"

Clockwork knew left to their own devices, the girls would probably start to freak out from the side effects of the ectoplasma. He sighed and nodded.

"Yes. I know what it is. It's the substance that flows through me like blood flows through you. It's called ectoplasma. She will have a few side effects from it, but nothing to worry about."

As he spoke, he didn't notice his and Setsuna's staves starting to glow.

"Ectoplasma? But that's just stuff of legends." Ami said.

Sailor Moon bit her lip nervously. "Like scary ghost stories..."

"You would think it is legend, you are a child of science after all, but it is not. And yes, Sailor Moon. Like scary ghost stories." Clockwork spoke.

Setsuna rolled her eyes.

"Way to freak them out." She muttered.

"You girls heard him. It's real and I'll be fine."

He heard Setsuna and chuckled a little. "I am sorry. But they would freak out more if you suddenly went intangible and sunk through the floor."

She glanced at the top of her staff to check it and saw it was glowing. "We got a problem Chrono." She gestured to her staff.

He then looked at her staff, then his own and noticed their glowing.

"What is going on?" he murmured before there was a flash of bright light.

When it cleared, Setsuna and Clockwork where nowhere to be found...

TO BE CONTINUED...

**A.N.: Yay! Some action finally! Sorry for the slow first chapter and the slow beginning of this chapter. Just had to get things established. I hope you've enjoyed it so far and will leave us some reviews and feedback. If we suck, we need to know so we can try harder, if we're pretty good encouraging will make us want to post more! We do not own Danny Phantom or Sailor Moon! Please enjoy! Until next time...**


	3. No Time Left For You

**Chronological Epoch**

**Chapter 3**

**No Time Left for You**

Setsuna started muttering about annoying observants after they moved from being with the Inner Senshi.

"Clearly you weren't expecting this, were you?" She glanced at Clockwork.

"No. I was not." he said as they found themselves inside a small bar.

Right in the middle having appeared from nowhere, there were several colonial men staring down at them. At first Clockwork was going to try and talk their way out of it, but he noticed he was back in his normal form and Setsuna was un transformed.

"Salem. Just great." he muttered.

The men looked past Clockwork and at Setsuna. One man stood.

"Looks as though thy spell did not work correctly, Witch." the man spoke.

He pulled an old gun from his belt and pointing it at Setsuna.

"You should have been more careful. There will be a witch hanging this day."

Clockwork got upright, no legs since he was in ghost form, so he simply floated, and held his staff in a combative stance. It was strange though, the staff felt heavy. Like it were made out of something like iron. He felt no power from it at all. It was ok. He'd use his other abilities then and his staff could do some damage if wielded like a club.

"Stand back. All of you. I don't want to hurt you." Clockwork, like always, sounded very calm although right now he was unsure of what was going to happen.

Setsuna would find that she couldn't transform nor could she wield magic from her staff either.

She heard Clockwork and her eye twitched.

"Somehow, I don't believe they'll listen."

"So it would seem." he said as the man approached them.

Other men stood and soon they were surrounded.

"I will give you one last chance to return to your business, Gentlemen, and we will leave. We mean you no harm. We have come here by accident and only wish to leave." Clockwork spoke again, still sounding calm.

"The creature speaks well. Did you teach him, Witch?" a man asked as he reached down and grabbed Setsuna by the hair to pull her to her feet and causing her to hiss in pain.

"And now you have crossed the line."

Clockwork swung the now heavy staff out to slam it against the side of the nearest man's face. The crunch of broken bone and teeth caused the room to grow silent for a few seconds. Setsuna couldn't resist smirking when she heard the crunch of bones and teeth. Now that she was standing, she had a better grip on her own staff and held it in a position ready to swing if needed.

"Anyone else want to be stupid enough?"

At her words, the whole room full of men attacked. Although many were taken down by well placed swings from the two staves, Clockwork and Setsuna found themselves overwhelmed and taken down. Clockwork tried to go intangible, but found that that and his ability to make plasma blasts were unusable. He was pushed hard against the floor and held there with a hand on his head while Setsuna was held with an arm tightly around her neck as both the staves were wrestled away from their respective wielders.

"Let us just destroy the monster and hang the witch!" one man cried out as he held a hand to a particularly nasty bruise on the side of his face.

"No. She may be wicked, but we are going to give her a fair trial." came a man's voice from behind. Some time during the fighting a well dressed man had walked into the tavern. "Lock her up and her trial will begin tomorrow."

"And the creature?" another man asked.

"Interrogate it. Someone said it could speak well." the well dressed man said. He walked over to look at Setsuna.

"An exotic beauty from another land it seems. Obviously she is a woman sent by the devil to tempt us. God was able to make her spells backfire and land her here. Good job in apprehending them."

Setsuna glared at the well dressed man.

"Trust me, if I was meant to tempt you, it would be too easy."

"Sadly I must agree wholeheartedly with you." the man spoke.

He then turned around and left. The men grumbled among themselves as they drug Setsuna and Clockwork from the bar.

Clockwork was still trying to get free. Being manhandled wasn't something he or Setsuna were use to and they didn't like it one bit. Clockwork's injured shoulder kept getting grabbed, causing him to grunt or hiss in pain. He caught a glance of Setsuna just before they were pulled in different directions.

"Ugh! Let her go! She's not a witch!" he yelled out, but his words were ignored.

Setsuna was taken to a building that looked like a jail and taken inside. Once there she was pushed into a cell and the door was slammed shut behind her. Setsuna glared at the men after she was tossed into the cell.

"So...another probably falsely accused." a voice said from her left.

At hearing the voice, Setsuna looked towards the source. "You have no idea."

"I am Abigail Faulkner, one of the many accused here in Salem Town." a pregnant woman said as she sat on a bench with her hand protectively on her stomach. "You should sit and rest. You will have an ordeal tomorrow I am sure."

"I'll be alright. Used to standing for long periods of time." She nodded. "I'm Setsuna Meioh." She sighed. "The paranoia is frustrating."

"I know how you feel. It is nice to meet you. Why were you accused? Is it because of your clothing? People have been accused because of less I am afraid." Abigail said.

"Most likely. They saw myself and my friend and accused me right away. Some well dressed guy claimed I was likely sent by the devil to tempt them."

"I see. I am sorry you had to come to this town during these trying times, but..." Abigail was unable to finish as a blood curdling male scream could be heard from almost the other side of town.

Setsuna almost didn't recognize the voice. Her eyes widened as she realized who was screaming. She'd never heard _him_ scream before.

"Clockwork..." In her concern for him, she didn't realize she'd let his actual name slip from her lips.

Abigail kept her hands on her stomach protectively until the screaming finally died down. "Wh...what was that about a clock?" she asked.

It was then Setsuna realized her slip on Clockwork's name. "A nickname cause of all the clocks he wears and cause he goes tic tock like a clock when he's impatient. Wh...what the hell could they do to cause someone to scream like that?"

Abigail shrugged her shoulders. "They do many terrible things in the name of interrogation. They were very very lenient with me for I am with child. If that was your friend, I fear he is ether not long for the world of the living or badly mutilated."

Never was Setsuna so happy that Clockwork was a ghost but it didn't make her any less concerned.

"Is he a dear friend?" Abigail asked with a kind smile.

"Hush, girl! I think it will only make this all worse if you speak of the man who is probably now dead." an older woman said. She looked to be in her late 40s early 50s.

Setsuna smiled at Abigail and answered her first."Very dear. Feels like I've known him forever. I could always depend on him."

Setsuna then looked at the older woman who had spoken. "Tell me then what do you do when you've lost someone? Do you never speak of them again as if they had never existed to begin with? Do you make yourself forget them?"

"Of course not, Child. If you speak too much of the dead they have a harder time of crossing over. Give it at least a day or so." the older woman said. She gave Setsuna a kind smile. "I'm sure your man was a good one."

"I am curious as to how that belief came about. Quite sure if they don't cross over, it has nothing to do with whether or not they're spoken of but that they have unfinished business. And he's not my..."

Setsuna's words were cut off as the door to their cell was opened and Clockwork was shoved in. He hit the floor in the center of the room and lay there unmoving.

"Good lord they have taken his legs." Abigail said paling and looking as if she may throw up.

The could only see his back because he hand landed on his stomach so his cloak was concealing him.

Setsuna ran to his side, kneeling over him and whispering apologies to him. The older woman watched as Setsuna moved to Clockwork's side. She couldn't really make out the apologies being whispered. "

Stop...apologizing." Clockwork groaned a bit as he pushed to roll over onto his back.

Abigail saw his face and red eyes and let out a small shocked scream as she moved back further against the wall.

"Wha...what is that?!" she exclaimed.

Others in the cell moved further back away from Setsuna and Clockwork.

There was a strange red mist rising off of him and he looked down at his chest. The normal ticking noise was gone, but a clicking, like gears trying to turn replaced it. The inside of his clock case was filled with strange almost blood red roses. They were stuffed in so much that his pendulum couldn't swing.

"Blood Blossoms." the older woman said as she stood and walked over unafraid. "A painful way to exercise a spirit. Especially if they are put into the spirits body. No wonder you didn't seem all too upset. Your man is already among the dead. He wont last too long like that though. You will have to remove them." she spoke calmly. "I can assist if you like."

Tares in Clockwork's clothes and skin were starting to appear and ooze out ecto. His tail was melting into a mess on the floor.

Setsuna unknowingly blushed when the older woman called Clockwork her man again.

"Yes please. It would be appreciated."

The older woman opened Clockwork's case and started helping Setsuna pull the blossoms out. She took hold of the pendulum to keep it from swinging once they had enough blossoms moved to allow it to swing again. Clockwork let out a small grunt of pain from having the pendulum once more restricted, but he didn't move too much. He watched as the two women worked together to get the blossoms out. Setsuna frowned at hearing his grunt of pain but continued working, doing her best to ensure they got each piece of blood blossom from his they were all out, the woman started to gather them up in her arms. She looked at Abigail who still seemed scared.

"Don't be frightened. This is a benevolent spirit. We must help him quickly. Gather these blossoms and throw them through the bars. Quickly now. They wont hurt you. They only hurt spirits."

Abigail slowly made her way over and gathered blossoms. Then the two women through them out through the bars of their cell. Soon the room was cleared of the plant. Clockwork lay panting some as his gears finally moved without restriction as did his pendulum. He looked at Setsuna, then the other two women.

"Thank you." he said before closing his eyes to rest.

Though the blossoms were gone, the effects remained, though were not continuing to get worse. Setsuna sighed in relief now that the blossoms were all gone and watched as he closed his eyes. She then looked to Abigail and the other woman.

"Again, thank you both."

"It was nothing. Let him rest now unless you have a way of sending him back to the void he come from. He's n need of the green substance that is the ghost blood." the older woman said.

"I heard you say your name was Setsuna and your ghostly friend here is Clockwork, am I right? Well I am Mary Bradbury. It's a pleasure to meet you both." she said as she sat back on the bench, wiping ecto onto her dress.

Setsuna sighed and nodded.

"A pleasure to meet you as well Mary. Sadly I don't have a way to send him back. If something hadn't been blocking him...he would've likely gone back and taken me with him before we got caught."

Mary nodded as she looked at the two sympathetically.

"Setsuna...I need you to concentrate real hard. I want you to concentrate on not feeling anything tangible. If you can do that, you can get out of here and get our staves. I don't know if you can do intangibility or not, but if you can, then do that too. We might can get out if you do that." Clockwork managed, but didn't open his eyes to look at her as he spoke.

"Some sort of spell?" Mary asked.

"I'll try," Setsuna looked at Mary. "Not exactly."

She closed her eyes and concentrated on trying to go intangible. She would smile as she was able to go intangible and with a little concentration on not being visible, she could go invisible as well. Now she could go find their staves and bring it back. She did it a couple of times to get the hang of it then, going intangible once more, she walked through the door of the cell and started her way to search for the staves. Being careful as she went and becoming invisible when needed as she left the room. The staves were leaning against a wall in a room where there was a desk and a chair. Seemed the sheriff or whatever they called the head police man in this era had stepped out. She hurried to the staves and used a mix of the two abilities to head back to the cell, switching between them when needed until she was finally back. Clockwork was still laying where he had been when Setsuna returned. As soon as she was close she saw his brow furrow as if in concentration. The staves lit up and there was a flash. They could hear gasps and screams before everything went silent. A few moments later they would find themselves in the floor in the middle of an old abandoned cabin. There was dust and spider webs all over and it was dreadfully cold. Outside the wind howled bitterly.

"I could...for a moment, feel my power. I couldn't get us far. Maybe...a couple of decades. Old cabin in the woods I think. Far from people. Can rest a bit." his speech was starting to come out a little slurred and sentences not fitting together.

His eyes closed and he was unconscious again. Setsuna sat next to him, un-trusting of the time period enough to believe that they would go undisturbed so that she too could rest. She watched as Clockwork's went from it's child, to adult, to elder modes steadily while he lay unconscious. His wounds seemed to be slowly healing, the colder weather of the season helping him regenerate. There being no heat in the cabin was helping also. By a few hours later, most of the wounds were gone, and his tail had reformed. Even the wound from the fight with the monster in Setsuna's time had even almost healed up. The temperature was steadily dropping in the room. By now, Setsuna would be able to see her own breath. She had slightly curled to herself due to the cold but she was glad to see he was healing. After a while Clockwork stirred. He slowly sat up and looked at Setsuna. Seeing her curled up, he unfastened his cloak and pulled it off and laid it over her like a blanket. No yet having the strength to float or really get himself off the floor, he then scooted away from her. His cold body would only make her that much colder if he lay close to her. He finally lay back down and curled up almost cat like to sleep for the rest of the night. Not fully asleep herself, she blushed when she realized he'd laid his cloak over her. She smiled softly before finally settling in, and closing her eyes to get some sleep. Her dreams were interrupted though. It was obvious that she was sleeping and dreaming, but she would also know that by some strange power, the well dressed man from before had entered her dreams. His green eyes gave off a slightly ghostly glow.

"There you are. I'm glad Nocturne owed me one." he almost purred. He looked around their surroundings and shook his head. "Do you always dream of work." he asked indicating that they were standing at the Time Gates.

Setsuna glared at him.

"Even if I did dream of somewhere else, as an intruder to my dreams, this is all you'll see."

"It's fine for atmosphere. Kind of romantic really. Too bad that stupid monster had shot both you and Clockwork. You getting even just a temporary ability to go intangible and invisible kind of messed things up for me. I had planned to get you out. Just you mind you. But I would have saved you and taken you back to your senshi. The Time Meddler there having outlived his usefulness and all could have faded away." the man said as he walked around Setsuna looking her up and down predator like.

Eyes narrowed, she turned as he circled her.

"You sent that thing...You're an observant, aren't you? The others clearly didn't agree with you or they would've removed him from the post."

"They would have had to replace him if you would have just left the Blood Blossoms alone. He would have dissolved and faded out. Then I'd have rescued you and taken you back to your senshi and everything would have been fine. I might have even had a chance with you. I would mention on how it's nice to know the great all knowing Clockwork could be brought down by a woman. Though you are an exceptional woman. I made the right choice when I introduced you two. At first I just wanted his job and to get rid of him, but then after observing things, I saw that I wanted everything. I want his job so I can make things go as they should without his meddling. I want him gone because he's the type to not give up. He'd keep trying to stop me. And I want you because well...look at you. Em...I am babbling. You have that effect on people though." he said smiling and chuckling.

She shuddered in disgust at the knowledge he believed he'd had a chance with her.

"So what, you thought that I would've left him to fade away because of those blossoms?! That if you'd 'saved' me and returned me to the senshi that it would've made things right?! That you would've been able to sweep me off my feet because you were my 'hero'? Pfft. If you really believed all of that then something is seriously wrong with you."

"There is something wrong with me. I think it's love." he said with a wink. "Besides, you think I have problems? Hah! Your friend there...he has problems. Old pervert. He's ancient and figures he has a chance with you. He's watched you, you know. On his mirrors. He watched you while you were guarding the gate. He watched you after you were reborn. He watched you as you grew up. That old, creepy ghost just watching your every move." he shivered as if in disgust. "Now there's a someone with issues."

Shuddering again after he winked at her, she spoke again, "You're wrong. He doesn't think of me that way. He just was looking out for me, making sure I was happy...and after my rebirth, he missed me. Nothing wrong with that...But if he did think of me that way...he has a better chance with me than you do." She gasped after her words, covering her mouth and feeling her cheeks heat up.

The man's eyes flashed as a look of anger crossed his face.

"You...you will have plenty of time to think things over. You wont see your senshi again until I take you back there and that wont happen until you learn to appreciate me. Learn to love me." he warned. "You can think about it." he said nodding as if to himself. "You'll come crawling back to me when the Time Meddler fades and your left alone in that old cold cabin. See you around, Beautiful." the man said before disappearing and causing Setsuna to wake up.

Upon waking up, she first glanced to Clockwork to make sure he was still alright. He was still there. His wounds weren't any worse, but it was going to be a slow healing process without being able to get proper care. He didn't breath, so there was no way of knowing that he was still alright except the continuous ticking from his clock. That and it was the only noise in the place. He was still curled up a few feet away. Setsuna looked away with a sigh, then pulled her knees to her chest, fighting back the tears at the idea of never seeing the other senshi again. She'd be damned though if she would force herself to love a man so evil or to leave Clockwork behind. She'd prefer to freeze to death rather than crawling to the observant in the event that Clockwork did indeed fade. She stayed where she was and rested her arms on her knees before burying her face in them to let the tears fall...

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

**Thanks for reading so far! I hope you've enjoyed it. Please leave us some reviews. We don't know how we're doing if you don't. By we I mean me and my partner in crime Usako. She writes all the parts for Setsuna and I do the other stuff. We're having fun reading it and hope you're having fun reading it. And yes, if you're wondering, all the chapters are named after songs that have to do with time. The first one was named after the song "Who Wants to Live forever" by Queen, a personal favorite of mine. The second was "Time After Time" by Cindi Lauper. And this one was named after "No Time Left for You" or simply "No Time" by the Guess Who. Alright, I'll quit babbling now. Hope you continue to read and enjoy!**


	4. Good Times

A loud noise would catch Setsuna's attention. A book had fallen from a nearby shelf. Dust flew from where it landed as spider webbing billowed from the book where they had been tore free from the shelf. She lifted her head at the sound and looked around. Upon seeing the book, she straightened and went over to look at the book.

"What is it?" he asked. He had been awaken by the sound of the heavy tome hitting the hardwood floor. He slowly sat up. His sleep having returned some of his energy, he was able to get off the floor and follow her. His white hair looking a bit disheveled and some of it coming from it's pony tail.

When Setsuna got to the book, the cover had a title engraved in the leather by gold. It read Nocturnacon. When she picked it up, the book would give off a slight glow before flying open to a page that held spells and incantations. One spell told of how to bring a ghost to full manifestation. There were things she would need. some candles, salt, a stick to use like a wand, and some hearing his voice, she quickly wiped her eyes of the signs of crying and reached out for the book. She gasped when it opened to a page on its own before her eyes skimmed the page.

"It's...a spell book...with a spell to bring a ghost to full manifestation."

"Do you think we can trust it?" he asked as he floated up behind her in his child form. As much as he would like to be back at full strength, he didn't want to do something that might cause them more trouble.

"I really don't know. Depends I guess on what you know about the Nocturnacon."

"Sounds like someone tried to rip off the Necronomican. I guess we can try it though. What's the worst that can happen? Besides melting into a puddle of ectoplasim, but that's besides the point." he said as he started to slowly and it seemed a bit painfully float around the cabin looking for candles and other things.

She too started to look for the required items for the spell. "Just curious, how much do you think the observants dislike your interference in things?"

Depends on their moods and situation. Sometimes when they want me to kill a person, I can find a way to change time so I don't have to and the person has a bright future. Sadly if not I have to kill the person." Clockwork explained as he found some candles in a cabinet. "As far as you know, how far might they go to show their displeasure towards you?" She pulled some salt from another cabinet and incense from a drawer.

"Block my powers and or confine me to the tower." Clockwork said as he turned into his adult version and floated back over to her holding the candles.

She looked back in the book. "Missing the stick wand." She took the candles and started setting them by the book's instructions. "That's not too bad. Did any ever give an indication of wanting to destroy you for good?"

"Their punishments are more annoyances than anything." he said shaking his head. "I have never met one that wanted to kill me. Probably because they know if they tried I would kill them. I let them think they have control over me, when in reality the only thing binding me to them is a simple contract. As per the contract they can take my powers or confine me, but if I was truly angered or felt like they needed to be dealt with, I would break the contract and go after them." Clockwork explained before looking outside at the trees. "There's a nice oak over there. We might can find a fallen limb and get the stick. The fresher the better."

"Hmm...Say hypothetically, one of them did want to kill you, to the point of purposely setting up what we've gone through so far...the women knowing those blossoms that you were stuffed with being a fluke that was unaccounted for...but still an observant wanted you dead, blocking your powers and mine...and wanting me to..." She cut herself off, unable to finish her suggestion for fear she'd cry again. She sighed and shook her head. "Let's go look. The sooner we look, the sooner we'll find one and can get back to trying the spell."

He gently grabbed her wrist and turned her to look at him. "When did this observant reveal himself? What does he want from you?" he asked. He could see through they "hypothetical" thing since he had heard it over and over throughout the years as people spoke with one another. "You can tell me. We are in this together and we need to work with one another and trust one another. Just like old times."

She allowed him to turn her and listened to his words before nodding. "You're right. He revealed himself in my dream. That one well dressed man from Salem, the one who called me exotic. He set it all up...including that monster that attacked at the temple." She took a breath to calm herself a bit. "He was hoping you would've faded away back in Salem and then he would've taken me back to the other senshi. He's fallen for me, he says, and he won't return me to the senshi until I've learned to appreciate him and learned to love him."

A shocked look crossed Clockwork's face. It soon turned to disgust, then seethed into anger. "Then we simply ruin his plans. We will get ourselves home. It may take some time. Hopefully after this spell we will have enough energy to do so." he said getting a determined look in his crimson eyes. He floated out the door still in that slow painful way and headed for the tree he had been talking about. He wanted to try the spell more than ever now.

She nodded and followed him outside, concerned for him as she watched him float along.

Once to the tree, he started looking around it for any fallen limbs. Finding one, he picked it up and broke off and small twigs and leaves from it. He then handed t to Setsuna. "This should do."

She took it with a nod. "It know, the observant tried to make you out to be a creepy old pervert because you were always watching me, even after my rebirth. Nothing wrong with that from my viewpoint, way I see it, you were looking out for me, wanting me to be happy. He laughed at the idea that, and i quote word for word, 'the old pervert thought he had a chance with you'." She smiled softly. "Want to know what I said in response to that?"

How dare that crude little one eyed miscreant make him out to be a pervert. His face was now a shade of purple from how much he was blushing and how angry he was with the observant. "I...I just...wanted to make sure...yes. I mean it's not like...you know..." he stammered. He stopped to listen to the rest of what she had to say. "W...what did you say?" he asked as he busied himself with organizing the twigs around the tree.

Her soft smile never left her face as she watched his face change color. "I told him that even if you did see me in that way,...that you had a better chance than he did." Her own cheeks turned red at the admission

"I do?" he asked as he stopped what he was doing at looked at her in surprise. The admission left him speechless and he just floated there a few moments looking at the ground with a soft smile. He then looked back at her. "We...we should get this spell taken care of and try to get you back home." he said as the look on his face become a bit saddened.

She nodded in response and started to head back into the cabin before noticing the sad expression. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Come. We need to make sure we have everything and see what to do next." he said as he followed her back to the cabin.

"Are you completely sure there's nothing wrong? People don't just have sad expressions without something bothering them."

"I...I would never ask you to be with me because why confine you to my tower with me forever when you have a life ahead of you? I could not do are so much more happy away from the Time Gates. You're able to do as you please and experience the world for yourself. I would never take that away. Now, let's get you home." he said smiling to her best he could before entering the cabin.

"You make it sound like it would be a boring and bad thing to spend forever with you. If I hadn't stopped time and died in the process, wouldn't I have been practically spending forever with you anyway?" She followed him inside the cabin and checked the book, setting the salt and incense per instructions before lighting the candles. "Ready?"

"I suppose. Some what..." he said. After they got back into the cabin, Clockwork got into position in the center of a ring of salt. He nodded. "Yes. Let's get this over with."

Reading over the page one last time as she took the makeshift wand in hand, she began to recite the spell, inwardly willing it to work.

A feeling come over him, but it wasn't pain. It was almost a soothing warmth that engulfed him. He felt his strength returning. The wounds that had appeared on him from the blossoms healed up instantly. The wound in his shoulder become just a scar. He sighed a little after the spell was finished. "That is much better." he said smiling. "You'll have to brush some of the salt away so I can get out of the circle."

She smiled and set the book down before brushing salt out of the way to let him leave the circle.

Once out of the circle Clockwork went and picked up his cloak to put it back on, then went to pick up his staff. It still felt heavy and mostly useless, but there was a bit of a spark in it. He smiled and looked t Setsuna. "Ready to give this a try?" he asked.

She grabbed her own staff and nodded with a smile. "Ready."

He flew up beside her and held his staff out so that it was just touching hers. He then closed his eyes and began to murmured something in a language she didn't understand. Soon there was a small light that started to grow between the two staves.

As the light grew between the two staffs, she closed her eyes. Her planetary symbol appeared on her forehead glowing as she began murmuring something in Plutonian.

The light between the two staves flashed and soon the two would fins themselves in what looked like an old English Monastery. The room was filled with lit candles almost like the cabin had been and the set up was very similar. Someone had been trying to cast a spell and must have left in frustration. Setsuna would find herself transformed into her Sailor Pluto form, but still unable to access her power. Clockwork shook his staff a little and found that the clock on top of it had stopped. "Well...this isn't exactly where I had in mind."

"That I can believe." She looked around at the candles before trying to find the spell book that might've been used for the attempted spell.

The book was no where to be found. It appeared whoever had cast the spell had taken it with them when they left. Clockwork looked around at the things in the room to try and figure out where they were. "The observant is still trying to keep us from getting back."

"Not surprised, really. He's quite sure I can learn to love him and likely calls himself just giving me time to realize that. I can assure you, that even without my earlier admission, I'd have no reason to love him." She chuckled a bit. "Funny thing is, as much as he seems to despise you, he's the reason you and I met to begin with. So in a way it's his own fault if anything past our friendship develops."

"Yes. That would be terrible for him." he said blushing again. He put a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat before searching the room some more.

She chuckled slightly and started searching the room again as well.

"Nothing." he murmured after a while. "Let's see what we can find in this place." Clockwork opened the door and looked out to see if anyone was near and then slowly floated out.

Setsuna nodded and followed after him, looking around and keeping her footsteps quiet.

He went down a long hall way and looked down both ways of an intersection before continuing on. He soon come to a set of double doors and pushed them open to see that the doors led outside and there was a thick forest area ahead of them. He motioned for Setsuna to follow him before heading into the woods. "I think who we are looking for will be in here." he said. "That looked like a monastery and usually what is counted as dark arts shouldn't be performed there. This person is trying something they shouldn't. I believe they have run this way."

"It's quite possible. But it could be anything that they tried." She followed him into the woods, understanding his reasoning.

He nodded in agreement as they continued on. For a long while all they heard was the autumn wind and the rustling of the leaves. Leaves would crunch under Setsuna's boots as she followed Clockwork as well. The forest had grown darker and darker the further they went. It wasn't clear if the forest it's self was dark or if it was turning to night. After some time the faint sounds of music could be heard in the distant.

"Not much can creep me out, but this place is definitely starting to do it." She murmured before hearing the music. "Hopefully that music leads us to the person we're looking for."

"Yes. Let's see. We'll have to be real quiet though." he said as he moved to pick Setsuna up bridal style and flew in the direction of the music.

Even though she understood why he picked her up, she couldn't stop her cheeks from turning red due to the close proximity from the action.

He flew on until they saw a clearing up ahead. There was an enormous bone fire with men and women dancing around it. Some of these men and women were ghosts and other paranormal type creatures enjoying themselves. There was feasting, singing, dancing, and instruments being played. "A Sabbath." he murmured to Setsuna.

She nodded. "Think any of them had something to do with what happened in the monastery?"

"Probably. I think we are probably looking for a human male." he said.

"Well that narrows the crowd down considerably." She looked amongst the crowd.

He nodded and also looked hard at the crowed. They didn't see a couple of other spirits floating up behind them and shoving them into the clearing in an almost playful manner. Before the two could react they would be swept up into the crowd of dancing and writhing bodies.

She was caught off guard by their suddenly being shoved amongst the crowd. Though the writhing bodies did have her blushing shyly.

A hand reached out and grabbed her arm, then pulled her out of the crowed. From the color of the glove on the hand and all the watches, she saw it was Clockwork. He pulled her over to where there was no dancing going on. A man sitting at a table laughed a little as he watched them.

"So I did summon someone. I was already running late and wanted to get out here before anyone saw me. Sorry i gave you the slip." the man said as he raised a mug to Clockwork and Setsuna in greeting.

She sighed in relief when she realized it was Clockwork who pulled her free. She then nodded in greeting to the man. "Well it's...understandable."

"We have a variety of food and drink for anyone of any species be it ghost, demon, or human." the man offered. "This is a Sabbath after all. Relax. Eat, drink, and be merry."

"Thank you." Clockwork said before looking to Setsuna. "This may be a good place to catch our breath. We may can even get a powerful individual or two help us get home after the festivities."

"Yes thank you." She said before looking to Clockwork. "It's possible. Even if not home, then at least further along the way then we might manage on our own."

He nodded and went over to inspect the food. It seemed there was just about anything and everything imaginable there to eat.

She followed after him. "Quite a selection, isn't it?"

"Yes." Clockwork said as he finally grabbed what looked like a green candied apple.

"Well, didn't know you were into apples, let alone candied ones." She grabbed a red one herself.

"The green is ectoplasim. It helps a ghost stay manifested." he said with a wink. "There probably is an apple under it though. Don't worry. Your apple is normal. The last thing you need is more ecto in your system."

"Let me guess, too much ecto would make me at least half-ghost?" She chuckled

"No." he said laughing. "That takes electricity. It could make you horribly sick though."

"That's no good at all then. I'll definitely stick to the red ones then."

"Good idea. Let's see what they have to drink now." he said moving on over to the table holding all sorts of drinks. All alcohol.

"I could deal with this." She looked through for a wine that she might recognize.

Clockwork found a bottle of Chartreuse and poured a goblet of it for himself. It was a green colored liquid, but was not made with ecto by any means. "This is a drink that many people have enjoyed drinking and it is also a healing elixir. Some people say that if you can beat the alcohol in it you can see visions. Most people get drunk on it pretty quickly though. It is normally 80 proof." he explained.

"Well, maybe my heritage will prevent my getting drunk so quick." She winked before pouring a goblet for herself

He chuckled and nodded. "Good." He watched the other activities while he sipped his drink.

She watched the others with a soft chuckle of her own.

"Care to dance?" he asked after a while. He held his hand out to her.

She smiled at the offer. "With you? I'd love to." She placed his hand in his

He let his tail form into legs, and was now wearing purple slacks to match his tunic and cloak and dark blue boots that matched his gloves. He lead her over to where the others were dancing and smiled as he started to dance with her.

She smiled back and danced with him, clearly relaxed and enjoying herself.

He was also enjoying the dance. He would dance a while with her, from slow dances, to faster ones. The merry music being played by ghosts and demons from home made instruments still could make some nice melodies.

"Will you promise me something?" She glanced at him during one of the slower dances.

"Anything." he said as he looked into her eyes.

"Promise that, after we get home, you'll visit at least once a month."

He smiled and nodded. "I promise." he said. He spun her and then dipped her before bringing her back up. The were now so close that their mouths weren't that far from one another.

She smiled back when he made the promise. Her breath caught in her throat and her cheeks reddened when she realized just how close their faces were.

He was getting a bit closer before pulling back. "Um...still hungry?" he asked.

When he pulled back, there was a brief flash of disappointment in her eyes before it was gone again as she looked down. "No. I'm fine."

"Oh...Ok..." he said. He then put his hand under her chin to lift it and gave her a small chaste kiss.

By the end of the kiss, her cheeks had gotten even redder

"I...am sorry." he said also blushing some.

She smiled softly. "Don't be."

"Come on. I think I need something to drink. My mouth has gone dry." he said as he started to lead her back to where they had been siting.

She followed him. "A drink sounds good." She murmured

He looked back at her when she murmured. "Are you alright? I'm sorry if I upset you."

"I'm fine. You didn't upset me. Honest."

"Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything." he said as he continued to look at her.

"I'm sure. My mind just wandered for a moment is all." She smiled in reassurance.

He nodded a bit, but was still back at the table they had been at, he sat and drank some more of the Chartreuse.

She too drank more of the Chartreuse, sitting silently in thought.

He watched her worriedly. "Setsuna, penny for your thoughts?" he asked smiling a little.

She glanced at him out the corner of her eye and sighed. "I know you said you wouldn't ask me to be with you out of not wanting to make me give up my happy life...but what if I were to find a way to do both?"

He blinked. "What? How?"

"I didn't say I found one. But I've just got a feeling one that agreement you've got with the observants declares that any partner you take must always be in the tower regardless of any other duties they may have?"

"There's never really been talk of partners. I think they assumed I'd never find one. I never thought I'd find someone I cared for so much." he murmured. He then realized what he said and sat there blushing.

She reached over and gently squeezed his hand. "I'll gladly take all the blame for making you care." She joked.

He sat there, still blushing, but smiling a bit at the joke.

She smiled as well. "But at least we've got a start now for me to do both...if you want to go through with this, that is?" She blushed a bit herself.

He sat for a little while, then finally nodded. "Yes. I would like that." He gave her hand a squeeze.

She nodded and leaned against him, turning her gaze to watch the other people.

He continued to blush, but wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer.

She snuggled a little closer and smiled softly. "I'm glad you're here with me."

"And I you." he said as he nuzzled her hair.

She blushed from the action as she gently squeezed his other hand.

Their peaceful moment was interrupted by what sounded like an enraged cry. Clockwork wrapped his arms around Setsuna and held her protectively just as the two were hit by a painful blast. After a while Setsuna would awaken to find herself alone in what looked like a frozen tundra...


	5. Last Night Good Night

Finding herself in the frozen tundra, the fact the cold didn't affect Setsuna all too much this time told her that she was still in her fuku. But then she realized she was alone. Right away she stood up and looked around, calling for Clockwork in hopes that he was nearby.

There was no answer as snow flew all around. She could see in the distance that there was a castle with a high wall around it.

She sighed in disappointment at not getting an answer before starting towards the castle.

As she approached, the doors would slowly begin to open.

The fact the doors were starting to open upon her approach had her nerves on alert since it meant she was likely expected. Regardless, she continued anyway.

The temperature past the gates where a good deal warmer. People saw her coming in and stared in awe. A few bowed to her deeply. She could hear a few whispered here and there.

"It's Sailor Pluto."

"She's returned."

"Maybe she can fix things."

"Oh this is great news. Lady Serenity will be so pleased."

"Someone go get Diana-Sama."

"...The first Sailor Senshi to be seen since Lady Serenity took the throne."

She was a little surprised at being bowed to. Hearing the whispers had her slightly concerned. Something needed to be fixed clearly. Though she was happy to hear that Lady Serenity, who she knew to be Chibi-Usa was on the throne. It gave her an idea of just where she was. Way in the future...though she couldn't be sure as to what timeline.

She could spot the crystal palace now not too far away. It still looked as it had in the future she had already seen.

She continued on towards the palace cautiously regardless of it looking how it had in the future she'd seen.

The doors of the palace flew open as an elegantly dressed, pink haired woman come running out. Tears were in her eyes as she all but tackled Sailor Pluto. "Puu! It's really you! I'm so glad it's been so long!" she sobbed. "You can fix it. You can fix everything I just know you can!" The Queen didn't seem to care that she was making a scene before her subjects.

Pluto hugged the young queen, soothingly rubbing her back. "I will try my best."

Diana had followed after Lady Serenity and looked around nervously. "Your highness, it would be better if you and Sailor Pluto discussed everything in private. It's quite a scene here now."

Lady Serenity nodded a bit as she stepped back from Sailor Pluto and motioned for her to follow them back into the palace. "I'm sorry. Things have just been terrible ever since..."

"Do not apologize for your reaction. It was instinctual and therefore I can understand. As I said, I will try my best to help." She followed Diana and Lady Serenity into the palace.

Lady Serenity led Sailor Pluto back to the throne room. She dismissed any guards or maids that had come in and waited for them to depart. Once the room was clear except for the three, Lady Serenity looked at Sailor Pluto. "I'm going to get straight to the point. I'm not sure from when you are coming from, but we need you. After he took over, time has been insane. He's insane. Bending the world to his own will all just to make things the way he wants them. He's not a Timekeeper like the ones before him. You see the insanity outside he has caused. When the senshi went against them, he killed them easily. Small things that got rid of them before they even had a chance. You'll see it. It hasn't happened to you yet, but you will. He made Mama's future turn dark and he let them hide me away as the Black Moon Kingdom took over. He thought that would bring you back, but it didn't. He just let things happened after that. He wouldn't let me go to the past. Blocked me off from Mama and the others. Mama was taken by Demando and he forced her into marriage with him. The Wiseman turned her into one of them. They ruined our world. Almost destroyed it. Papa was killed, but I found the crystal and I fought against them with the help of another time keeper and a man with flame like hair. They left and told me you would return. I wasn't sure, but in the meantime, Diana and I rebuilt the kingdom best we could and the false time keeper started messing with things again. Seasons out of order, Weather gone berserk. People seemingly fine one minute die horrible the next. We figure it's because in the future they had found a way to stop him." Lady Serenity explained. "This is not another dimension if that's what you're thinking. This is your new future, my present nightmare, if we do not stop the false time keeper."

Diana nodded sadly as Lady Serenity explained everything

Sailor Pluto was in shock. "No wonder you were forced to take the throne. I'm so sorry I haven't been here to help. But if he was looking for me to come back then I have quite the idea as to who this false time keeper is." She sighed. "I will see about fixing this. He has done too much manipulation to time for his position to it."

"Thank you. You have to be careful. By this time you have died. Clockwork faded away shortly after. He wasn't the same and the false timekeeper took him out easily. Ripped out his clock and watched him fade. Right here in my throne room." she said sadly. "He laughed. He was so happy that if he couldn't have you and you were a spirit or in heaven, Clockwork would fade into nothing and wouldn't get to be with you even in death. But...he probably knows you're here. May have planned it this way. Just...be careful."

"I fear you're right that he likely planned it. He separated me from Clockwork and sent me here, likely in hopes that I'll agree to love him if it meant he would set time back to how it should be. Or that I'll realize it was him I loved all along over Clockwork. I told him that he can't force me to love him and he likely believes that allowing Wiseman to make your mother like the Dark Moon and likely to love Demande that it proves my words wrong. The woman we know to be your mother is still in there somewhere. We just have to free her." She gently pulled Lady Serenity into a hug. "We'll figure out how to set things straight. He won't get what he wants of me but I won't allow him to continue his reign of terror either."

"Clockwork's alive too!? Well...as alive as he can be...We must find him. As for Mama...when we fought...she begged for her death. She couldn't stand what she had done or what she had become. I promised to somehow reset time so none of this happened.' she explained as she buried her face in Sailor Pluto's shoulder. After a few moments of silent tears, she pulled away and summoned the Genzuisho. "We can try and find Clockwork like this." she said as he concentrated. After a few moments, an image would appear. Clockwork was in the snow covered tundra slowly floating along and calling out Setsuna's name. His cloak billowed and whipped about behind him in the harsh blizzard like winds. Not far behind him something was coming.

"I'm sorry." She watched the image appear from Lady Serenity's use of the Ginzuishou and gasped. "We've got to hurry and reach him. That might be the observant behind him." She turned and started to run out of the room.

"Wait!" Lady Serenity called. "It's my husband!"

In the Tundra Clockwork turned around quickly when he heard something approaching and held his staff at the ready.

Sailor Pluto stopped. "Your husband? I'm sorry, I just couldn't help wanting to rush out."

A young man with blue hair, red eyes, a golden horn sticking out of his hair and a red gem on his forehead walked up. The man held his hands up in surrender. "Relax. I mean no harm. You were calling for Sailor Pluto I take it? If she's here as you believe, she is possibly at the palace."

"It's alright. I'm sure Helios will bring Clockwork back safely." Lady Serenity said with a reassuring smile.

Clockwork didn't know of this man yet and so kept his staff up and at the ready. "Why should I trust you?" he asked.

Sailor Pluto nodded. "I trust that he will."

"I am King Helios. My kingdom has been waiting for Sailor Pluto's return to save us from the reign of terror caused by the false timekeeper. If you still do not trust what I say, then trust in Sailor Pluto's judgement. For she knows my wife, Lady Serenity, as well as my wife's mother and grandmother. The senshi of this time are dead as is Neo Queen Serenity."

Clockwork listened, then after a few moments, slowly lowered his staff and nodded. "Take me to her, please."

Helios nodded. "Of course. Follow me. I'll get you up to speed on the way." He started on toward the palace, informing Clockwork of everything that had happened since the arrival of the false timekeeper.

Clockwork listened quietly as he followed Helios.

By the time Helios had brought Clockwork up to speed, they were walking into the palace. "Ah. I was right. She is here." He then led Clockwork to the throne room.

He saw Setsuna and moved quickly to embrace her tightly and closely. "You scared me. I thought something might have happened to you." he said with a sigh.

Lady Serenity smiled as she watched the scene.

Setsuna embraced Clockwork just as tight. "And I feared something happened to you." She choked out a sob. "We just...can't let him continue here like he has. We just can't..."

Helios moved over to stand with Lady Serenity, a smile of his own on his face

"We will." he said as he pulled back some so he could see her face. He then ran his fingers through her hair. "We will stop him. Who knows, we may even be able to get you back home."

She nodded and wiped her eyes. "We just have to figure out how to do it."

He smiled at her reassuringly, then looked at Helios and Lady Serenity. "What has been tried so far?"

"Hard to try much really when he's just manipulated time to prevent it. It's how Neo Queen Serenity ended up married to Demande, and how the senshi of our time are even went as far as to slightly temporarily de-age my wife during her own attempt to use the ginzuishou on him, just enough so that using it at full strength put her own life at risk."

"I see. Is there a place he is staying here or is he hiding back in the Ghost Zone?" Clockwork asked.

Lady Serenity just hung onto Helios' arm as she let the two men talk. It wasn't she was subservient. Far from it. She was just still weak from her attempt with the genzuishou.

"If he is hiding here, then he's doing a very good job. I've searched in the air countless times."He then looked to Lady Serenity in concern. "If you're still feeling weak, at least sit down if you won't go lay down and rest."

Lady Serenity nodded tiredly. She hugged and kissed Helios before hugging Setsuna. She then headed to her room to rest.

Clockwork listened, then nodded, "Then I'll have to see if we can't find him by other means."

He watched Lady Serenity leave with a bit of concern on his face before looking back to the two timekeepers with a sigh. "Ever since her attempt with the ginzuishou, I've been trying to get her to harness the power of her dream to be a lady like her mother to protect her while in battle. But she's still too weak to try like she should."

Setsuna nodded with a sigh of her own. "Hopefully we can finish him off soon and for good."

"Do you have a door to Setsuna's Time Gates in your palace?" Clockwork asked.

Helios nodded. "Of course. It's been locked in a way where not even the imposter could open it should he make it inside the palace. Follow me." He walked out of the throne room and down a long hallway

Setsuna followed Helios quietly, interested to see just how the door was locked off.

Clockwork held Setsuna's hand as he floated after Helios.

Helios stopped in front of a door with no door knob. Instead in the middle of the door was a red gem, similar in shape to the one on Helios' forehead. He closed his eyes just before a beam of light shot from the tip of his horn to the gem, causing the door to part into two as it opened. Beyond that was another door with a design that looked like it needed the top part of Setsuna's staff placed in it to open it. "A much more reliable way of opening it as only a descendant of the Plutonian royal family can get that part of the staff to separate."

Setsuna smiled to Clockwork as they walked, watching Helios open the first door before nodding at Helios' words in regards to the second door. "Thank goodness for that." Her staff separated and the top part floated into its place on the door, causing the door to disappear.

"Ingenious." Clockwork said nodding as he watched.

Setsuna smiled as she saw a set of Time Gate doors now that the other door had disappeared and the part of her staff had returned.

Clockwork released Setsuna's hand and floated on into the room. "This will be perfect." he said as he held his staff and looked at it, concentrating. A light flew from his staff and created a clock like the ones all over his tower. The hands began to spin and soon stopped at the 12:00 position. There an image started to slowly appear like a film developing.

Setsuna stepped up next to him to watch the appearing image

"He's in the Ghost Zone, in my tower." Clockwork said as the picture come into focus. "Let's go there."

"You sure we'll be able to get there?"

"We can give it a try. Helios, is there a portal to the Ghost Zone anywhere around here? A man made one?" Clockwork asked.

He nodded. "Tap that wall to your left with your staff three times."

Clockwork nodded and did so.

Helios watched as the wall disappeared, revealing the portal to the Ghost Zone clearly made with Mercurian technology.

"I'm impressed. It's very well made." he complemented before looking at Setsuna. "I know telling you to stay here would be futile. Are you ready?"

"Sailor Mercury put a lot of time into it to ensure it would work perfectly. Good luck."

Setsuna nodded. "You're right. It would be futile. Let's do this."

"It is beautifully done like everything she has made. Thank you Helios." he said with a quick bow. He smiled to Setsuna before taking her hand and going through the portal.

Setsuna smiled in return and walked with him through the portal.

Helios bowed to them both and watched them leave

Clockwork looked around as they come out in his tower. "He's probably in the observation room."

Setsuna nodded. "I assume you have a plan."

"Sadly no." He murmured.

She sighed. "Probably for the best."

"Yes. If we don't know, he doesn't know."

She nodded before lightly and lovingly squeezing his hand.

Clockwork brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "Just know that no matter what happens, I love you." he said.

She blushed at the small action. "And I love you."

He smiled and nodded, then started for a nearby stairwell.

She smiled and walked with him towards the stairwell. Her grip on her staff tight as a precaution.

They soon got to the top of the stairs and found the observer looking at the viewing screens.

Upon seeing the observer at the viewing screens, it took a lot of restraint for Setsuna not to just attack him in her anger

"I'd ask what took you, but of course, I know." The observant said before turning to reveal his true form. Another observant, but now dressed in purple robs instead of white and gold.

"You had no right to change the future like you did." She growled out.

"But I knew eventually you'd come upon it and want to save this world. We can end this right now. I can send everything back to normal if you'd just be with me."

"Of course you knew that. It was your fault we've been jumping through time in the first place." She narrowed her eyes. "You should know me better than that. I could be reborn multiple times until the end of time and I would still not want to be with you. No matter how much I want to save the world, I refuse to betray the royal family to do it and they would never ask me to either. I definitely refuse to be with someone who forced a dear friend of mine into a life she did not want."

"Then it looks like we have a problem that we need to solve." The observant said. If he'd had features besides a giant eyeball, he would have grinned.

"It looks that way." Clockwork said flatly. "Stand down and return to us what is ours and we wont have to explain the the other observants what you've done."

Setsuna continued to glare at the observant

The observant swung his arms and sent a powerful ecto attack to knock the two back and against a wall.

Clockwork grunted as he hit the wall, but then only glared as he swung his staff sending his own attack at the observant.

She hissed as she hit the wall and sent an energy attack of her own from her staff at the observant.

He was hit and knocked against a gear, but quickly got back up only to have Clockwork, now holding a scythe, swing the weapon at the Observant's mid section. The Observant moved and only got his tunic slashed.

She stood and twirled before sending a Deadly Scream attack at the observant

The observant was hit by the attack and sent flying against a wall. He slid down it, then growled as he flew at the two. He used his own staff to strike Clockwork across the face and knock him back before sending a plasma blast at Setsuna.

She went intangible to dodge the blast before sending another energy blast back at the Observant

The observant hit the wall again before sending a blast at Setsuna aimed for her head.

Clockwork moved to strike the blast back at the observant like a baseball.

Setsuna sent another blast at the observant after Clockwork knocked the other one back

The observant was hit and fell to the ground but pulled himself back up. Growling, he charged at Clockwork and struck him across the middle with his staff. There was a shattering noise and Clockwork was flung back against the wall by the blow.

She gasped when she heard the noise and ran over to Clockwork.

A blast flew at her to knock her away.

She screamed as the blast hit her and knocked her into a wall.

Seeing what had happened to Setsuna as he tried to get back up, Clockwork growled and moved forwards quickly with his staff held tight. On the top of his staff were to sharp prongs that were on wither side of a stop watch. Clockwork took the staff and pushed the prongs into the eye of the observant causing the ghost to scream out in pain and bat the time keeper away.

Setsuna struggled to stand back up, a look of determination on her face. The tiara on her forehead replaced by her planetary symbol as her staff glowed as one before she aimed it at the observant's eye, sending a blast at it.

The observant screamed out again before falling to the floor. A few gasping like sounds coming from him as he started to deteriorate into a puddle.

Clockwork watched as he slumped back to the floor tiredly.

Setsuna watched the observant start to deteriorate before she went over to Clockwork, kneeling next to him and looking at him in concern.

Clockwork looked at her and gave her a small smile. "I think you got him." he said before looking down at his shattered clock case door. "Ow..."

"I think so too." She choked out, having seen the state of his clock case door. "Are you...going to be alright?" She was trying not to cry, but she was scared that she would lose him.

"Should be...think I just need some new glass. But right now it's kind of like having a big opened wound. Not feeling so good, but I'll be alright." he said with a small, but reassuring smile. He picked up his staff and saw it glowing with it's full power back. He started to wind the stop watch. Setsuna would be able to see through the viewing screens as time reversed and was rest on the right track.

She smiled softly. "Good. I'd hate to lose you." She then watched the screens as time was reset to the right track.

He smiled a little more and nodded. Once things were back to normal, Clockwork passed out. He was weak from the long ordeal and then from using his time magic right after.

Even though she knew she could now rejoin the other senshi, she didn't want to leave his side. Not to mention she was tired as well and soon passed out next to him.

Once the two were rested up, Clockwork went to tell the observants what had taken place. They had gotten his glass fixed and then told him what they had decided. Since he had gone to the senshi's time and abandoned his post, he would have been in serious trouble. But because he had been able to defeat the rogue observant, his punishment wouldn't be as bad. He was told to return to his tower until they could decide on what to do.

While Clockwork had been with the observants, Setsuna had returned to the senshi to check on them and everything. Though she still kept to herself with them for the most part so she didn't risk spilling anything about the future. Once done with that, she returned to Clockwork's tower, curious to know what his punishment was.

When she come in, he looked very solemn. He looked at her and his face softened for a moment before he looked down. "I wish you hadn't returned so quickly." he said.

She was about to counter that she was gone at least a couple hours but had to remind herself that time flowed differently in the tower. "What was I supposed to do, stay there bored out of my mind?"

"It'd be better than what I have to do." he said as he floated over to her and embraced her to him tightly.

She held him back just as tightly. "I'd rather watch time with you than be forced to keep silent around the other senshi." She looked up at him. "They're not gonna make you give up 'us', are they?"

He fell silent as he continued to hold her. He took in the feel of her body, her warmth, her scent, everything. And then he let go and pulled away to float a few paces away. He looked at her sadly for a few moments before his expression went neutral. He pointed his scepter at her before saying, "Sailor Pluto, you have seen things in the future even you were not meant to see. For this temporal mistake, I have no choice but to remove your memories..." He looked at her sadly once more. "Of everything."

"No..." She stepped back...gripped her staff tight. "I refuse...to forget what we had over a mistake that wouldn't have happened if not for that rogue observant...I'd rather die than forget all of that...Is that really worth it...giving up the happiness and love over something that wasn't supposed to happen?" The orb on her staff started to glow. "Or is this you trying to be noble and protect me but using that travesty as your excuse? Tell me the truth Clockwork!" She was angry and hurt and it showed in her eyes.

He gritted his teeth together and growled out through them, "It's either this or they will kill and replace you." Louder he said to her, "This ruling is passed down from the council of observants and it is my duty to fulfill their wishes. You will not be harmed and will be sent back to your rightful place soon."

"They can kill me but they can't replace me fully. My post is through my family line, remember. I'm the last Plutonian. And I'll kill myself first. She gritted out as she moved one of her hands along her staff until it was right near her stomach. "I'd rather be dead than live with a heart in pain and not knowing why all over again. I'm dead serious."

"Setsuna don't do this." he warned. "Please don't force me to do something more I'll regret."

"What would that be? Pissing me off? Cause you've already done that. Breaking my heart? You've done that too. They already want me dead or they wouldn't consider it in the first place. At least let me get the dignity of deciding how I die!"

"I'M DOING THIS TO SAVE YOUR LIFE!" he exclaimed. "Please I couldn't exist if you were to die!"

"And I don't wanna live without you! I meant it when I told you I missed you enough to have Neptune paint that picture of your tower, with a little tiny you in it. It was the closest I could get to you because I thought I'd never see you again and it was killing me not to be able to see you. That painting, was all I had to keep me going until you showed up heart was aching because you weren't around. And now you're expecting me to live with that pain and not even be able to know why it hurts?"

"It's not my favorite choice, but it's better than the other unless you have any better ideas." he whispered out as he floated closer to her.

"None. I never thought they would request such a thing of so called future I've seen that I didn't know was a future caused by that rogue observant and erased once we defeated him."

He floated up to her and pulled her close once more, pushing her staff aside using his.

She broke down and cried the moment he pulled her close. "You still have to do it, don't you? If you must, can I make one last request first?"

"Yes?" he murmured against her hair.

"I'll understand if you can't give me this. But I would like one last day with you. A full 24 hours of uninterrupted time with you. Without having to worry about being sent to another time or worrying about being killed in our sleep."

"Granted." he said. An hour glass appeared in the center of the room. "A full 24 hours is yours. What would you like to do?"

She smiled softly. "Thank you." She kissed his cheek then his lips before blushing when he asked what she wanted to do.

He would gently kiss her back, then noticed the blush. "What?" he murmured.

"Well um...I don't really know how to ask for this. It's more for you really since at the end of the 24 hours I would forget anyway that it happened and we don't have to spend the full time doing it and..." She rambled trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to do. "Oh what the hell..." She yanked him close, kissing him deeply and pulling at his cloak to undo it

He was surprised, but dropped his staff and started to help her pull off his cloak. Wisp tail turned to legs as he picked her up and started for a different room where there was a huge four poster bed.

Her staff fell with his and she smiled as he carried her towards the bedroom. "I love you." She murmured against his lips.

"I love you too." he said as he gently placed her on the bed.

She smiled and pulled him down for another kiss and let her hands do the rest of the talking for her for the next few hours

Later the two laid in bed close together. Clockwork wasn't willing to leave her side for a second of the remaining time they had.

Setsuna was deep in thought. Wishing she could just will her heart to lock a few memories away and out of reach so she would still have some once her mind was wiped...even if they just ended up fuzzy dreams. There were still a few questions she wanted to ask but was afraid to because she just knew the answers were likely to hurt.

"What's wrong?" Clockwork asked.

"I'm over-thinking again. And part of me wants to rush to write down all that we went through so I could find it after...but I just feel it would be pointless as all that writing would likely be gone after..." She sighed. "And I already figure you won't be able to come near me again...so as not to risk the memories returning."

He sighed and pulled her closer. "I will leave you some of the memories hidden deeply. It will be up to you to uncover them." he whispered to her.

She nodded silently before pulling him to her for a deep kiss.

He returned the kiss with passion.

After the kiss, they cuddled and talked and she eventually fell asleep once more. When she awoke again, she was in her own bed in the manor she shared with Michiru and Haruka, her memories wiped.

Clockwork would continue to watch Setsuna from afar. He could always look back at the past and smile at the events, and check in on her present situation to make sure she was alright, but he couldn't see her future. So he had no way of knowing that his own future was going to be very interesting.

**The End?**


End file.
